If you’re finding it difficult to understand British English, just remember there are actually 40 dialects and accents in the UK. What we found, or heard, in Liverpool is quite charming. The “scouse” may refer to the dialect or accent, or it may actually mean a person hailing from Liverpool. The accent is a cross between Irish English and North Welsh accent, with a little Norwegian mixed in. Sounds pretty unique, huh? To say goodbye, the more popular way is simply to say “ta’ra”. Funny, but in my local language, the same word means “let’s go”. And to refer to something as “minty” has nothing to do with taste or scent, it simply means dirty. In reality though, “scouse” is a dish. And yes, the people from this city are actually nicknamed after a stew dish made of beef or lamb with potatoes, carrots and onions much like our local “menudo”. Served as a stew or topped with puff pastry like a pie, it is a hearty meal. Liverpool being a port city, the story goes that the traditional Liverpudlian dish was actually brought in by sailors. We had it for our first meal in a diner called “World Famous Docklands Fish & Chips Shop” in the Royal Albert Dock.
The dockyard houses a Maritime Museum, the Tate Liverpool and Beatles Story Museums, along with several restaurants and food trucks serving anything from ice cream to an assortment of street food. It’s a good walk around the docks where one also finds the “Three Graces” which is a title given to 3 waterfront buildings defining Liverpool’s skyline. These century-old buildings are the Royal Liver Building, Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. In 2015, the Beatles statue was erected right smack at the Pier Head fronting the Three Graces. A photo in front of the Beatles Statue has the heritage buildings for a splendid background.
There’s lots to do in Liverpool. Beatles fan or not, the docks, the museums, the Baltic Market and the numerous shops and restos should keep any visitor busy. We also got lucky with our lodgings. The hotel is very roomy, clean and very reasonably-priced and is a walking distance to the dockyard, passing a number of shops and dining places. This northwestern city is popular not only for its music scene but also for sports (they have 2 famous football teams — as corrected. Thanks!) and as a university city. Not to forget, there’s also the Liverpool Cathedral which is the largest in UK and the world’s 8th largest church. Very near it is the Chinatown — the very first to be established in Europe. It houses the oldest Chinese community in Europe and is marked by an arch claimed to be the largest outside of Mainland China.
The only unfortunate thing we encountered while in Liverpool was the Baltic Market was not open for business. There were a few shops open, but it wasn’t as vibrant as what it could have been. We planned on eating there but ended up having coffee in the nearby Yonder Cafe, which serves good coffee by the way. Having said that, we truly made good use of our time in Liverpool. The shops and food trucks look really cute and interesting but alas, we can’t have everything. Ta’ra!
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